Without getting into too many trivial details, one of the two most influential rappers in Egypt had a full beef in 2022 which all started when one rapper dissed another and, in doing so, dissed a third, cascading like dominoes until it reached El-Joker dissing Abyusif in his track El Talta Momken. The track unsurprisingly hit number one on YouTube trending, with over 1.5 million views in just two days, fueled by El-Joker’s popularity as an Egyptian rapper.
For anyone following the rap scene, especially during COVID times, it’s easy to sense the kind of distinctive delivery that El-Joker has mastered. In Ataraxia, Abyusif taps into an emotionally heavy style that reminds me of that period. Ataraxia, as defined by the ancient Pyrrhonists and Epicureans, is freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety achieved not by confronting external chaos, but by withdrawing from its influence altogether. Abyusif twists this concept in his own way, tapping into the metaphors as he navigates the digital age and the emotional burdens it brings with sophistication.
In a state of serene calm, untroubled by mental or emotional disquiet, the song explores feeling lost, lonely, and weighed down by inner struggles. Abyusif reflects on carrying emotional pain, questioning who he is, and battling the voices in his head. It’s about trying to escape heaviness, missing chances, and living with confusion while still pushing through life’s pressure.
It’s an old Greek term meaning inner calm. It’s the moment when the self softens and begins to recognize its new form. Someone who passes through darkness and comes out of it feels as if they went through a black hole and woke to find their life suddenly older, where Abyusif replays past events in a moment of ataraxia, trying to understand themselves all over again, starting with the lines:
أوقات فراغ تقلب سواد، سراب
هنروح بدري من العيد ميلاد قوم أوام ده عقاب
غل جواه، هموم قدامه والشباك وراه
لحد ما لَف ورمى الحِمل ده من الشباك وطار
ما نزلش الأرض، فضل طاير وسط سحاب السما
Which translates to:
Empty moments turn into darkness, into a mirage.
We’ll leave the birthday early, get up now, this is punishment.
Resentment inside him, worries in front of him, and the window behind him.
Until he spun around and threw that burden out the window and flew.
He didn’t fall to the ground; he stayed floating among the clouds of the sky.
Meanwhile, the production style leans into a soft-rock influence, courtesy of Muhammed El Alfy, beginning with a blend of miscellaneous genres layered over rock toplines. Alfy’s complicated rhyme patterns are deliberate, internal rhymes, poetic meters, and structured imagery all reinforce the track’s metaphoric depth.
WE ALSO SAID: Don’t Miss…Egyptian Stars Mounir and Wegz Collab on New Single ‘Kalam Forsan’
